Van Dorn, Earl, 1820-1863

Earl Van Dorn was a Confederate general during the Civil War. He was born near Port Gibson, Mississippi, on September 17, 1820. His mother was the niece of Andrew Jackson, a connection that aided Van Dorn during his application to the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1838. He graduated in 1842, but had received 163 demerits as a cadet due to actions such as failing to salute, using profanity, and using tobacco. Upon graduation, Van Dorn was appointed to the Seventh U.S. Infantry Regiment and served at various posts in the south, including Fort Pike in Louisiana, Fort Morgan in Alabama, and Pensacola in Florida.

Van Dorn married Caroline Godbold in 1843 and the couple had two children. However, Van Dorn developed a reputation as a womanizer, in part due to his famous good looks and charm. Additionally, he gained fame for military service during the Mexican-American War and later against Comanches in the west. These factors reportedly contributed to his popularity at social engagements, and especially among some women.

When the Civil War broke out in early 1861, Van Dorn resigned from the U.S. Army. He received an appointment as major general in the Mississippi militia, but shortly afterwards transferred to the Confederate army as a colonel. His first assignment was to raise a brigade of Texas troops and arrest any federal soldiers in that state. Upon reaching Galveston in mid-April 1861, Van Dorn led a group of secessionists to the harbor and captured three U.S. ships without a fight. The act prompted President Abraham Lincoln to brand Van Dorn a pirate.

Fresh from his victory in Texas, Van Dorn was sent to Richmond, Virginia, for promotion. By September 1861, he received the rank of major general in the Confederate Army and in January 1862 he was sent to command the new Trans-Mississippi District. Upon taking command, Van Dorn faced a Union invasion of Arkansas. He led a campaign to defeat this threat and drive north into Missouri to capture St. Louis. The plan failed when his army lost a battle against Union troops at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, in March 1862.

Van Dorn withdrew to Mississippi in mid-April 1862, after Confederate troops under Albert Sidney Johnston had suffered a defeat at Shiloh in southwestern Tennessee and evacuated Corinth, Mississippi. Van Dorn led an assault upon Corinth, determined to recapture it from federal troops. Although his attack began well, he had failed to study the Union positions at Corinth, and threw his Confederate troops against formidable fortifications. The assault failed and Van Dorn was relieved of command. He was given a smaller assignment, to lead Confederate cavalry under General John C. Pemberton.

Although he had not seen much success as an infantry commander, Van Dorn proved much more effective at the head of a cavalry force. He led a brilliant cavalry raid against Ulysses S. Grant’s supply depot at Holly Springs, Mississippi, in December 1862, spoiling the Union army’s first effort to reach Vicksburg, Mississippi. He continued to participate in Confederate cavalry raids and skirmishes against Union troops in Mississippi until his death in May 1863.

Van Dorn was not killed in battle but at the hands of a jealous husband. In April 1863, Van Dorn had begun an affair with the young wife of a physician and state legislator, Dr. George B. Peters, in Spring Hill, Mississippi. Dr. Peters had caught his wife in the arms of Van Dorn on April 12. He nearly shot the general at that time, but Van Dorn managed to talk his way out of the situation. Then, three weeks later, on May 7, Dr. Peters went into Van Dorn’s headquarters, a stately mansion in Spring Hill, and shot the general in the back of the head while he worked at a desk. Dr. Peters was arrested for murder, but never brought to trial, as most southerners sympathized with his plight as an offended husband.

Van Dorn was initially buried in Alabama, but later moved to Wintergreen Cemetery in Port Gibson, Mississippi. (Wikipedia; National Park Service; American Battlefield Trust)